Happier Abroad Forum Community

First of all let me make an exception - I was born in Austin, Texas and when I found the right places to be I found nicer people. I worked at a hostel by the lake where I met a lot of world travelers from the US, from Australia, Germany, India, all over. My oddball personality is not only not judged within the right parts of Austin but welcomed warmly. The same cannot be said about the wrong parts of Austin, which are usually downtown and among the wealthy Anglo girls with stuck-up personalities. While Austin is not entirely immune to America's lousy culture that we are so sick of, it also has some pockets of sanity and intelligence. It is also summertime right now when Texas has heat waves of up to 100 degrees so I would rather be swimming at Barton Springs.

Instead I am in the Dallas area where there are no natural lakes, rivers or any place to cool off in the heat. There is a lake near where I live that isn't even cold nor can we swim in there without getting a ticket. Everybody stays in their air-conditioned houses.

We are the largest and most populated metroplex in the damn country and we have no public transportation. I have seen ONE shuttle bus in all the years I have lived here. ONE! Everybody drives in their cars for twenty minutes to get to the mall and then everybody is just as separated there as they were in their prisons of metal and glass. I can't tell you how many times I have gone somewhere to have fun and by the time I get there I am so frustrated with the driving that I am in the mood to have fun anymore. I just feel mad all the time. I wanted to go to a Latin dance place in Dallas but that would have required driving an HOUR to get across town.

I went to Germany and I saw people riding the train on the way to work and reading newspapers. That is partly why they are not so frustrated and pissed off as I see in Texas. We spend so much of our time isolated in our cars that we are completely out of touch with the people next to us.

In conclusion, when I go abroad people are going to ask me about Texas and I will say to hell with it.

Funny, I actually like the atmosphere and culture of Texas, much more so than New York City. Maybe part of it has to do with my political beliefs, which lean Libertarian and Conservative?

But, overall, yeah...I much prefer overseas than America.

Temprano26 wrote:I went to Germany and I saw people riding the train on the way to work and reading newspapers. That is partly why they are not so frustrated and pissed off as I see in Texas. We spend so much of our time isolated in our cars that we are completely out of touch with the people next to us.

In conclusion, when I go abroad people are going to ask me about Texas and I will say to hell with it.

In Europe, people use public transportation a lot more than Americans do. This saves money on gas, auto insurance (you don't even need a car in parts of Europe) and reduces stress (driving in traffic all the time causes lot's of stress).

Americans are obsessed with their cars and will drive everywhere for anything. If you think the traffic is bad in Dallas, come to Chicago and see just how horrific the traffic is during the rush hour!

Damn this is a shame. I've only been in the airports in Dallas and Houston but I've always thought the culture seemed interesting, especially Southern Texas.

Perhaps that is because I'm a Cowboys fan, love Mexican culture and food, and listen to country music regularly. Some one mentioned El Paso was a pleasant town. Ever been there?

Haven't been to El Paso. I am staying away from anything that I picture as another humid desert wasteland.

There are some cool people in Texas though. These older gentlemen that say sir and ma'am, talk politely, these are the cool Texans. Sadly, we are represented by the jerks.

Dallas does have the best public transit system in all of Texas.

Dallas has commuter trains.

But like a lot of southern cities, Texas cities are car dependent.

You're right, Silver Energy. I took the train every morning to get to massage class and thanked God I didn't have to drive all that way. Unfortunately I still have to depend too often on driving a car to go places.

If Mexico spoke english and had the dollar as its currency it'd be like Texas to the T!

I can't stand neither Mexico nor Texas.... I love South America though (As soon as you enter south america, it's another game! you won't find any tex-mex chicano cow boyish ay ay ay crap in South America)
but When you leave south america and you go north and then into el salvador, guatemala and all those countries where people, culture, food etc. starts to look more and more Mexican eventually crossing into the US and morphing into Texas I truly dislike it, don't know if I am bigoted against all of that area but I just cannot for the sake of me find anything in common between myself and that part of the world.

Temprano26 wrote:Haven't been to El Paso. I am staying away from anything that I picture as another humid desert wasteland.

An oxymoron -- deserts aren't humid. The climate is very dry and generally sunny and pleasant in El Paso. Fschmidt lives there, and can give you the lowdown.

Unfortunately in Dallas you've got the worst climatic features of both parts of the country -- far enough west into the prairies to have temps regularly in the 100s, but far enough east to still have some stifling humidity. Not as bad as the humidity as Houston, but bad enough to make for some of the worst summers in the U.S., when combined with the super high temps.

hammanta wrote:Damn this is a shame. I've only been in the airports in Dallas and Houston but I've always thought the culture seemed interesting, especially Southern Texas.

Perhaps that is because I'm a Cowboys fan, love Mexican culture and food, and listen to country music regularly. Some one mentioned El Paso was a pleasant town. Ever been there?

I've been to El Paso a dozen times, and I noticed a night and day difference regarding many of the girls, especially the Mexican girls. While El Paso isn't overflowing like it is in the Philippines and Thailand, the Mexican girls there are easier to befriend, even if you can't date some of them, unlike anywhere else in America.

SilverEnergy wrote:Dallas does have the best public transit system in all of Texas.

Dallas has commuter trains.

But like a lot of southern cities, Texas cities are car dependent.

Fort Myers is also a southern city, and there are a lot of people that ride bicycles practically everywhere in Fort Myers, especially on Sanibel Island, which is practically criss crossed with tons of bike paths!

Temprano26 wrote:First of all let me make an exception - I was born in Austin, Texas and when I found the right places to be I found nicer people. I worked at a hostel by the lake where I met a lot of world travelers from the US, from Australia, Germany, India, all over. My oddball personality is not only not judged within the right parts of Austin but welcomed warmly. The same cannot be said about the wrong parts of Austin, which are usually downtown and among the wealthy Anglo girls with stuck-up personalities. While Austin is not entirely immune to America's lousy culture that we are so sick of, it also has some pockets of sanity and intelligence. It is also summertime right now when Texas has heat waves of up to 100 degrees so I would rather be swimming at Barton Springs.

Instead I am in the Dallas area where there are no natural lakes, rivers or any place to cool off in the heat. There is a lake near where I live that isn't even cold nor can we swim in there without getting a ticket. Everybody stays in their air-conditioned houses.

We are the largest and most populated metroplex in the damn country and we have no public transportation. I have seen ONE shuttle bus in all the years I have lived here. ONE! Everybody drives in their cars for twenty minutes to get to the mall and then everybody is just as separated there as they were in their prisons of metal and glass. I can't tell you how many times I have gone somewhere to have fun and by the time I get there I am so frustrated with the driving that I am in the mood to have fun anymore. I just feel mad all the time. I wanted to go to a Latin dance place in Dallas but that would have required driving an HOUR to get across town.

I went to Germany and I saw people riding the train on the way to work and reading newspapers. That is partly why they are not so frustrated and pissed off as I see in Texas. We spend so much of our time isolated in our cars that we are completely out of touch with the people next to us.

In conclusion, when I go abroad people are going to ask me about Texas and I will say to hell with it.

Well I live in the DFW area, especially in the suburbs. People around this area are conservative, as well as paranoid while at the same time.